New from Cambridge University Press!

Edited By Keith Allan and Kasia M. Jaszczolt

This book "fills the unquestionable need for a comprehensive and up-to-date handbook on the fast-developing field of pragmatics" and "includes contributions from many of the principal figures in a wide variety of fields of pragmatic research as well as some up-and-coming pragmatists."

Paola Attolino, Department of Linguistics, University of Salerno (Italy)

SUMMARY This book is a collection of eleven papers exploring the interconnectionsbetween language and power in the context of identity politics, with particularreference to the process of globalization and its consequences for languages atall levels, major, regional and migrant.

The editor opens the volume with an essay titled ''Languages and Power:Accommodation and Resistance''. She gives a review of past and present studies onthe issue of language, power and identity and introduces the differentperspectives of analysis adopted in the volume.

The next contribution, Diarmuit Mac Giolla Chríost's ''Globalisation andTransformation: Language Planning in New Contexts'', examines the impact ofglobalization on the relationships between language, identity and conflict,pointing to the concentration of new information and communication technologiesin urban milieus. The author advocates a redefinition of the notions ofcommunity and sovereignty that recognize the importance of 'space' rather than'place' (Kohut 1977) in the globalized world. This is one of the reasons whyEnglish, which is a language no longer identified with a particular territory,will continue to gather momentum.

The domination of English is queried in Jane Saville's contribution, ''LinguisticHuman Rights in Education: International Case Studies''. In particular, sheexamines the extent to which linguistic and cultural rights have permeated intoeducational systems in South Africa, The Philippines and Peru. In all thesethree countries the conflict between the use of English and indigenous languagesis heavily linked to economic globalization and could prevent many individualsfrom benefiting from the development of their own countries.

Robert Phillipson's chapter, ''English in Europe: Threat or Promise?'', focuses onthe ''Janus-faced'' (p. 71) dimension of English in Europe, illustrated as being alanguage of opportunity and, at the same time, a threat to the autonomy ofnational language. The author of _English-only Europe? Challenging LanguagePolicy_ (2003) here analyzes the pro-English pressures of the Europeanlinguistic market, which are encouraged by the United States and seem tocontradict the EU's commitment to maintain linguistic diversity.

Promotion of minority languages in Europe is a key feature of the contributionby Markus Warasin, ''Minority Protection and Lesser-Used Language Promotion: TheConvention on the Future of the European Union''. The author considers theachievements of speakers of minority languages in the process of designing a newConstitution for Europe. When the Convention began its works in February 2002,minority protection was not on the agenda. Several debates, conferences andround tables outside the Convention succeeded in generating responses fromindividual members of the European Convention itself, whose final document couldsignal a potentially significant step forward for lesser-used language protection.

Philip McDermott's contribution, ''Broadcasting for Minorities: The Case of theCeltic Languages'', analyzes the development of Celtic language broadcasting anddraws attention to some of the debates about the use of the media in relation tominority languages. Broadcasting is extremely significant in maintaining thevitality of a linguistic community. Moreover, it has an impact on theconsolidation of a language within family and education systems. In the Republicof Ireland the establishment of a dedicated radio and television service forIrish native speakers has also functioned so as to promote a minority languageon a national level.

The following three chapters focus on the concept 'community language', used byPrice (2000: xiii) to denote the vernaculars of ''reasonably settled communitiesof (in most cases recent) incomers from such areas as Asia, Africa or theCaribbean'', which have perceptibly achieved the status of ''languages of Europe''if not ''European languages''.

Mary Delargy's contribution, ''Language, Culture and Identity: The ChineseCommunity in Northern Ireland'', aims to outline some of the changes that haveoccurred in the Chinese community since it was first established in NorthernIreland in the early 1960s. A key issue is the influence of English: Chinesechildren in Northern Ireland acquire fluent English through their everydaycontact with the language, but they feel a language barrier growing up betweenthemselves and their parents, which leads to inter-generational problems ofcommunication and understanding.

Rebecca Fong's chapter, ''Intercultural Communication: Chinese Culture in UKEducation'', addresses the increasing presence of Chinese students in UK.Countering the over-simplicity of cultural research based on such binarydistinctions as high and low context (Hall 1976), she highlights the role that'cultural awareness' plays in the curriculum, as well as the manner in whichthis affects teaching and learning expectations.

In his essay, ''Faith, Language and Identity: Muslim Migrants in Scotland andNorthern Ireland'', Gabriele Marranci discusses the relationship that his Muslimrespondents in Northern Ireland and Scotland have with language and worship. Inparticular, he focuses on the official role of Arabic within the ummah('community') and the differences in approach to this language by Muslims inNorthern Ireland as opposed to Scotland. In the case of Northern Ireland,Marranci observes how political sectarianism and what he calls 'symbolphagy' (p.168) have induced the local Muslim community to adopt English rather than Arabicas the main language for their Friday sermons. This approach contrasts sharplywith that of the Muslim communities in Scotland, where the symbolic importanceof Arabic as the only acceptable language of the 'emotional community'represented by the ummah is not under discussion.

John Dunlop's chapter, ''Language, Faith and Communication'' is also concernedwith this view of words as symbols. Looking specifically at barriers tocommunication between Catholics and Protestants during the Northern Irelandconflict, Dunlop suggests that speaking the same 'mother tongue' does notnecessarily guarantee a similar worldview. He argues that Catholics tend to''read between the lines'' (p. 189) and consider language (including politicalstatements) as open to interpretation and re-interpretation, whereas Protestantsapproach language (and politics) in a literal fashion.

In the final chapter, ''9/11 and the War on Terrorism: The Clash of 'Words','Cultures' and 'Civilizations': Myth or Reality'', Javaid Rehman explores theperception of Islam in the wake of the atrocities of September 11, 2001 and thesubsequent war on terrorism. He argues that the ''clash of civilizations''predicted by Huntington (1993) should not be accepted without question. Insteadhe queries the differential usage of key words and concepts such as'civilisation', 'human rights' and 'terrorism', considering the extent to whichthe application (or misapplication) in the usage of such words has had a majorrole in exacerbating divisions between contemporary Muslim societies and theWestern world. As Rehman puts forth (p. 201), ''The clash, if there is one –between Islamic states and the West – is not so much about values, but is more amanifestation of control, domination and exploitation.''

EVALUATION As Marranci observes in his paper (p. 167), language is more than a medium ofcommunication: it is a symbol of membership in a community, a sign of belongingto a group.

The contributions to this very interesting book succeeds admirably in presentingand analyzing a wide variety of issues - mostly concerning Europe - looking intopowerful languages such as English, minority languages such as Irish, andimmigrant languages such as Chinese and Arabic.

On the whole, the volume explores the crucial role of language in negotiatingidentity and highlights that the idea of power is highly contextual.

The volume combines theoretical and practical discourses on linguistic andcultural heterogeneity. From a more theoretical perspective, it contributes to adeeper understanding of the relationship between language and identity and it isworthy of a thorough read by anyone interested in the development of minoritylanguage endangerment discourses. Furthermore, it provides grounds for furtherresearch.

The contributions are well-balanced with respect to the different approachespresented. Each chapter includes an overview of the literature and offersattested examples, but beyond the intrinsic interest of the single essays thereader does appreciate the strong interconnection between them. The book issurprisingly unified, each chapter seems to anticipate the following, thus thediscussion on the various case studies turns out to be enjoyably readable andnot fragmentary.

Edited and published in almost perfect quality, the volume displays just a fewbugs related to Italian names (''Romani'' rather than ''Romano'' Prodi on page 67and ''Marannci'' rather than ''Marranci'' on page 13).

ABOUT THE REVIEWER Paola Attolino is a researcher in linguistics at the University of Salerno,Italy. Her research interests focus on sociolinguistics, non-standard English,evaluation in language, argumentative discourse, and second language teaching.